Introduction
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penetrative sex, manual sex, oral sex, etc.) with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring infections. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in the field is usually called a prostitute or sex worker, but other words, such as hooker, putana, or whore, are sometimes used pejoratively to refer to those who work as prostitutes.
Prostitution occurs in a variety of forms, and its legal status varies from country to country (sometimes from region to region within a given country), ranging from being an enforced or unenforced crime, to unregulated, to a regulated profession. It is one branch of the sex industry, along with pornography, stripping, and erotic dancing. Brothels are establishments specifically dedicated to prostitution. In escort prostitution, the act may take place at the client's residence or hotel room (referred to as out-call), or at the escort's residence or a hotel room rented for the occasion by the escort (in-call). Another form is street prostitution.
According to a 2011 report by Fondation Scelles there are about 42 million prostitutes in the world, living all over the world (though most of Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa lack data, studied countries in that large region rank as top sex tourism destinations). Estimates place the annual revenue generated by prostitution worldwide to be over $100 billion. (Full article...)
Selected article
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Harris_covent_garden_ladies.jpg/200px-Harris_covent_garden_ladies.jpg)
Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, published from 1757 to 1795, was an annual directory of prostitutes then working in Georgian London. A small pocketbook, it was printed and published in Covent Garden, and sold for two shillings and sixpence. A contemporary report of 1791 estimates its circulation at about 8,000 copies annually.
Each edition contains entries describing the physical appearance and sexual specialities of about 120–190 prostitutes who worked in and around Covent Garden. Through their erotic prose, the list's entries review some of these women in lurid detail. While most compliment their subjects, some are critical of bad habits, and a few women are even treated as pariahs, perhaps having fallen out of favour with the list's authors, who are never revealed. (read more ...)
Wikipedia Featured Article
Selected biography
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Hogarth-Harlot-1.png/200px-Hogarth-Harlot-1.png)
Elizabeth Needham (died 3 May 1731), also known as Mother Needham, was an English procuress and brothel-keeper of 18th-century London, who has been identified as the bawd greeting Moll Hackabout in the first plate of William Hogarth's series of satirical etchings, A Harlot's Progress. Although Needham was notorious in London at the time, little is recorded of her life, and no genuine portraits of her survive. Her house was the most exclusive in London and her customers came from the highest strata of fashionable society, but she eventually ran afoul of the moral reformers of the day and died as a result of the severe treatment she received after being sentenced to stand in the pillory. (read more ...)
Wikipedia Featured Article
Did you know?
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Sallysalisbury.jpg/110px-Sallysalisbury.jpg)
- ...that 18th century prostitute Sally Salisbury (pictured) was sent to prison after a riot but was released by a judge who was infatuated with her?
- ...that in the Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal more than 100 women get trafficked to red-light areas in Mumbai and Pune each year?
- ... that the five victims of the Ipswich serial murders are the subject of the 2010 BBC One drama serial Five Daughters?
- ...that 18th century brothel-keeper Jane Douglas sold condoms in silken bags to her customers?
Quotes
“ | The only way to prevent prostitution altogether would be to imprison one half of the human race. | ” |
Anniversaries - July
- 3rd
- 1888: Death of Mattie Blaylock, prostitute and common-law wife of Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp.
- 8th
- 1845: Birth of Al Swearengen, an American pimp and entertainment entrepreneur who ran the Gem Theater, a notorious brothel, in Deadwood, South Dakota, in the late 19th century.
- 13th
- 1941: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law a federal ban on prostitution near naval and army bases
- 16th
- 1788: Execution of Elisabeth Gassner, an infamous German pickpocket, thief and prostitute, known as Schwarze Lies (Black Lisa).
- 25th
- 29th
- 1910: Death of Valtesse de La Bigne, French courtesan and demi-mondaine.
Selected image
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Soi_Cowboy_night.jpg/300px-Soi_Cowboy_night.jpg)
Soi Cowboy, a red-light district in Bangkok.
Legality Map
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5f/Prostitution_in_Oceania2.png/300px-Prostitution_in_Oceania2.png)
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Recognised content
- Mah Laqa Bai
- Butters' Bottom Bitch
- Child prostitution
- Elizabeth Cresswell
- Casey Donovan
- Dumas Brothel
- Andrea Dworkin
- Natasha Falle
- Kanhopatra
- Caroline Lacroix
- Ipswich serial murders
- National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking
- Neaira (hetaera)
- Salon Kitty
- She Has a Name
- Soho
- Valerie Solanas
- Three Sisters Tavern
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